


Eyes I dare not meet in dreams

by WithAWhisper



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Underswap, Gen, Underswap Papyrus, Underswap Sans, Undertale Reset Issues
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-14
Updated: 2017-10-14
Packaged: 2019-01-17 10:58:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,297
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12364245
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WithAWhisper/pseuds/WithAWhisper
Summary: This world is too soft for your weathered bones and hardened skin, and the monsters only with the barest resemblances to the ones you know.It wasn't home, but you needed to go back anyway.





	Eyes I dare not meet in dreams

**Author's Note:**

> I suppose this is a kind of a concept stage before the finalized version. I was inspired by TyrantTortoise's "Broken Promises and Timelines" story and here's what I ended up with.

The world you landed in was strange.

Not in the least because it was a world of monsters, you’d gotten used to that ages ago.

It was just not the world of monsters you know. Something went wrong. Something went black. And when you got up from the snow, aching and shivering, you were met with a very familiar looking skeleton with blue eyelights and a bandana to match.

You were both surprised to see each other, to say the least.

He comes close and you scramble to your feet, his hand outstretched as if he was about to offer you a hand up. His eyes turn into stars and he excitedly shouted _‘YOU’RE A HUMAN!’_ and then turned and ran off. He runs back and tells you to follow him before running away again. 

There was little else for you to do, alone in the cold, so with the wet of the snow seeping into the large sweater you wore, you follow.

You trailed after Sans (from a distance) as he excitedly told you about how thrilled he was to have _‘FINALLY CAPTURED A HUMAN!!!’_ and went on and on about Alphys and the Royal Guard, so that was familiar in a way.

_(“I AM THE MAGNIFICENT SANS!”_

_“...Not Great and Malevolent?”_

_“WHAT? NO, WHY WOULD I BE MALEVOLENT? THAT SOUNDS TERRIBLE!”)_

 

...But only just.

This Sans’ ‘battle body’ looked kiddish and cartoony compared to the polished, menacing black armor you had been familiar with. The bandana he wore was brighter, more well preserved, than the darker, ragged blue that draped across the spiked pauldrons of the Sans you knew. He directed bright blue eyelights to you as he spoke and you noted the lack of cracks on his skull and no fangs in his mouth. 

You dragged yourself through his puzzles _(no razor wire to cut into your skin, or traps to ensnare and cripple you to prevent escape)_ and you took a bite of the cold, near frozen taco he had put out _(the glitter was marginally better than broken glass)._ You passed by other monsters, teenagers loitering in the woods and you tense up but they take no notice of you so you continue by.

Papyrus showed up.

Literally. Appeared out of air and that was familiar too. But only just.

You don’t think you’ve ever seen Papyrus out of his furred jacket. But this Papyrus wore an orange hoodie and had the stem of a sucker stuck between his teeth. He slouched, hands in the pocket of his hoodie and he looked on you with mild interest and curiosity. No fangs, no golden tooth or collar. 

You didn’t bother asking. The answer you would get would probably be appalled and confused. This Sans ran ahead, you followed, and Papyrus trailed a little farther behind. The brothers banter and at times they turn to you for prompt but you say nothing. 

And when you went through all the puzzles, silently trudging along to Sans’ excited babble, he’d turned and threw his arms around you-

Well.

You ran off, all the way to the boundaries of Snowdin after you shoved the familiar-unfamiliar skeleton away from you, sending you both staggering. You passed Papyrus. He might have said something, might have not. You were too busy fleeing.

“I fucked that up, huh.” You tell the echo flower, and it answers you, softly carrying your words to whisper amongst themselves.

The large orange sweater covering your frame was damp and cold, clinging uncomfortably in the warmer, moist atmosphere of Waterfall’s region as you huddled amongst the flowers. You curl your arms around your legs and touch a hand to one of the petals of an echo flower, listening to a passing conversation.

Raising your hand you focus inward and try to bring up the power that had gotten you into this situation.

A single, glitching button appears under your fingers.

R̵̰e̮͖̺̝̗̙̲se͚̕t̵̬̹̖͔̤

You stare down at the word, stuttering in place ever so slightly and lower your hand, the word disappearing with it.

_I fucked that up, huh._

_I fucked that up, huh._

_I fucked that up, huh._

You close your eyes and rest your cheek against your arms.

You hum to wash away the notes of your failure.

-

“I WAS TOO FORWARD PAPY, I SCARED HER OFF! WHAT WILL ALPHYS SAY?” Sans wrings his hands, tears gathering at the corners of his eye sockets. “I FAILED IN CAPTURING THE HUMAN AND NOW I’LL NEVER BE IN THE ROYAL GUARD!”

The human had ran off, after Sans had tried to hug her. Sans was pacing around in bone patterns in the snow in front of their house as he fretted. He was really upset about this. The footsteps she left ended at the border of Waterfall.

Papyrus rolls the sucker between his teeth and pulls it out with two fingers and places a hand on Sans’ shoulder, pressing him into place as he passed. “it’ll be alright, bro. my other shift’s ‘bout to start soon, i’ll be on the lookout. we’ve combed over most of snowdin already.”

“WELL…” Sans looked doubtful but he turned his gaze back to the edge of the forest. “I NEED TO RECALIBRATE MY PUZZLES SINCE THE HUMAN HAS GONE THROUGH ALL OF THEM. BUT DON’T TURN THIS INTO A REASON TO SLACK OFF, PAPY! I MUST APOLOGIZE RIGHT AWAY!”

“alright, alright. do what you need to do, i’m sure the human’ll turn up.” Papyrus gives a wave of his hand and blips away.

He arrives to his post, but walks past it to continue on ahead. 

You weren’t the fallen human that he’d expected.

For one, ‘fell’ was a bit subjective.

There weren’t any footprints that led back to the Ruins’ door. And Sans had said he had just found you, laying in the snow. As if you simply fell from the sky. As far as Papyrus knew, there weren’t any cracks in the ceiling over Snowdin that have appeared in the last few days, or even the last few hundreds of years that the Monsters have been trapped under the Mountain.

You weren’t exactly friendly but you weren’t hostile either. The clothes you wore looked torn, frayed like you got in a struggle but there wasn’t any dust on you. You looked around as if expecting to be attacked at any moment and never went within a foot towards him or Sans. Maybe you had a bit of a rough time wherever you were from.

You were injured, Papyrus recalls. It didn’t seem to be a conscious gesture on your part but you clutched at your body, gripping over areas on the ragged parts of the overly large sweater you wore and hunched over when you stood still. But you hadn’t complained. In fact, you hadn’t said much at all. Didn’t reply when Sans asked if junior jumble or crossword was any better, didn’t laugh at his jokes. Kept the same, silent and wary frown on your face.

You weren’t some knife wielding murder child, but…

There just wasn’t something right about this. This wasn’t how the script went. And the way you looked at him and his brother, oh he noticed. When Papyrus had finally revealed himself after watching the human and Sans interact, you looked like you recognized him.

The sound of rushing water gets louder and louder, and the cave was darkening the farther he walked, until only the glow of the water and mushrooms guided Papyrus forward. Whisperings of the echo flowers slowly surfaced as they accumulated in clusters, and he listened to the sound of running feet, walking where the echo was strongest.

Papyrus finds the human curled up in the grass, sleeping.

The flowers surrounding you were humming variations of what sounded like a lullaby.

**Author's Note:**

> I might continue this, but maybe in another fic. This one was kinda inspired by a quiz TT wrote about the skeletons and how Stretch would sit and listen to the Echo flowers in Waterfall.
> 
> Integrity (my nickname for reader) would like a nice quiet place to be left alone in, and what better place than where she could listen to the wishes and secrets whispered to magical blue flowers.
> 
> Her universe of origin wasn't kind enough to afford her much solace.


End file.
